Chapter 27
The Crawleys hadn’t yet arrived, and Augie had no choice but to get back to work. She reluctantly helped Zami rotate the crackling
pig, the meat so hot it made her sick, and tried to imagine what she would say to Chat. It was pointless to prepare. There
was no time to rationalize—only to act.
Above all, Augie wondered what Chat knew. Part of her hoped he was clueless—that Danika was the one lying about everything.
She wouldn’t let herself think he was the bad guy in all of this. Not yet. If he was, Augie would never trust her judgment
again.
She had to find him.
Augie continued filling trays, clearing tables, and fetching drinks with her head on a swivel, but there was still no sign
of them. It wasn’t until she started up the stairs to the Club to grab supplies from the kitchen that, as she reached the
top step and turned to the party from above, suddenly, there they were.
Augie swore the world slowed as the Crawleys entered in a cloud of white. They looked like royalty. Even Max and Cooper seemed
like celebrities in their tiny linen shirts.
Augie rushed inside, feeling overwhelmed.
The party took on a new atmosphere from there.
And as Augie returned to the grill station, she kept watching them out of the corner of her eye.
She could barely focus as she thought about how to approach Chat.
She went to the lower clearing station at the base of the pool, practicing a script in her mind.
Yet as she reached the cart, there he was, appearing beside her.
“Augie,” Chat said, his voice focused. Above them, string lights swayed in the breeze, and to their side, kids squealed and
played a duck toss game. The combination of lights and noise made the space between them feel even smaller and more intimate.
Augie stared into the bin of dirty glasses, ignoring the way her pulse pounded in her ears.
“Augie.” Chat put one hand on the cart, maneuvering to try to look in her eyes. “Please, talk to me. Why haven’t you messaged
me back?”
Augie pinched the fake flowers around her neck. Finally, she turned to him.
He looked even more handsome than usual—his hair and eyelashes darker in the late light, his irises ablaze with copper, his
white shirt and pants perfectly fitted yet loose.
“I need to talk to you,” he said.
Augie felt suddenly desperate. “Chat. Are you lying to me? What is really going on?”
His face collapsed, taken aback. “What do you mean?”
“I know, okay?” Her voice grew louder. “About your uncle and Danika. That they were together, or in Latvia, or . . . I don’t
know. You tell me. Please, just tell me what’s going on.”
Chat went still. “What?”
“And did Trey go to hockey camp with Lyle?” She squinted. “I truly don’t understand why you would hide something like that.
Clearly something is going on between you and Danika. What are you not telling me?”
Augie hated to witness the guilt and terror now seeping into Chat’s face. She felt lightheaded. Maybe she really had read him wrong.
“Augie.” Chat reached out to her, but she pulled away. “I can explain. You have to listen to me.” Yet, just as he started
talking, Cooper rounded the corner—making them both jump.
“There you are,” Cooper said between licks of an ice cream cone, the chocolate dripping down his wrist. “I need you to help
me with the duck toss, please. It’s so, so hard.”
He tugged at the bottom of Chat’s shirt with his free hand.
“I can’t, Coop, I can’t right now,” Chat said as Cooper kept yanking him forward.
Chat looked at Augie, pleading.
“Can you meet me at the cage?” he said. “In ten minutes? I promise I’ll tell you everything.”
Augie feigned normality as she went back to the grill, checked the chafers, gave Zami a shaky thumbs-up, and headed back up
the stairs to the Club. Without allowing herself to think, she went to Aida’s office. She grabbed the spare key and headed
to the cage.
As soon as Augie turned down the final hall, she saw Chat already there, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, cupping his
elbows. Neither spoke while Augie unlocked the door.
Even as they entered the large, dim room, Chat didn’t say anything. But then, in one movement, he rushed forward and kissed
her.
Augie was so caught off guard, all she could do was kiss him back. She folded into him, disappearing into the smell and taste
of him—how natural it always felt. He held her so tight, they began to sway, but a second later, Augie shoved him away, touching
her lips as if bleeding.
“You can’t do that,” she said, a sharp pain in her chest.
“Augie.”
She backed away, stumbling over a box.
“It’s not what you think.” Chat moved toward her.
“Why didn’t you tell me how you really knew Danika?” For the first time ever, Augie had used her first name. “Why did you
tell me you met on some sitter website? Why lie?” A new dread fell through her.
Chat slid his hand over his face.
“Augie,” he sighed. “Believe me, I wanted to tell you everything from the beginning. But it wasn’t about me. It’s not about me. I did meet her on a sitter website. Danika has no idea who I am.” His shoulders rose as he started talking faster. “She doesn’t
know Trey is my uncle. Trey doesn’t know I’m here, either. Neither do my parents. No one does. They would freak out. They
all think I’m babysitting for some family in Lakeville. It was—it is—better this way.”
Augie held his gaze. She pictured him as Trey, arm slung around Lyle’s shoulders.
“What do you mean? How would Danika not know? You and Trey look alike. I saw photos of him.”
Chat dipped his chin. “How? And how did you know Danika was with Trey?”
“Don’t turn this back on me. It’s not about me,” Augie said, mocking his words.
Chat sat down on a cardboard box, shaking his head and tugging at his hair.
“Latvia,” Augie finally said, quieter. “I heard Danika mention Latvia . . . when she was talking about her necklace, how she
got it from an ex. Then at their house that night, you said your uncle Trey lived in Latvia, played hockey. It was a weird
coincidence, so I started to put it together. Then Leah found Trey online, and she recognized him from the training photo
with Lyle. And . . .”
Augie stopped and sucked in a breath.
“Chat.” She held still. “Why are you really here?”
Chat hung his head. A moment later, he looked up.
“Augie, I’m going to tell you everything. But first, I need you to know that none of this has anything to do with you and
me, okay? With how I feel about you. I need you to understand that. You were never part of the plan. And you were the best
part of this summer. Seriously.”
Augie lowered herself onto a box across from him. “Just tell me what’s going on.”
He started to talk.
First, he explained that Trey and Danika had been high school sweethearts. The summer they were nineteen, in college, he and
Lyle had been at hockey training camp together. They’d met at a few camps before, but that summer, they were roommates.
“They were good friends,” Chat said, continuing to say that after Lyle died, even though Trey got his dream to play in Europe,
in Latvia—and Danika went with him—he was never the same. He became depressed; Danika left him a year later.
“The year they split was also the year Trey and I started getting close. I was only eleven, but I had started taking hockey
seriously, and my dad had left for North Dakota, so yeah. We started talking a lot.
“I didn’t know about Lyle or anything then . . . I didn’t know how lonely Trey was, either. I was too young. Trey didn’t even
tell me about Lyle until last fall.” Chat chewed his cheek. “I was so down after my injury, one night, he let it out. I knew
he was trying to show me you could pull yourself up from the darkest of places, but I think it was also driving him mad. He
needed to tell someone. He felt so guilty. He still does.”
“Why would he feel guilty? It was accident.”
“Yeah, but—” Chat clasped his hands together between his knees. “Augie, Trey was there that night. At The Manor. The night
Lyle died.”
Augie didn’t move.
“He wasn’t on the boat,” Chat added quickly, “because he and Danika had a fight, and she came to pick him up early. But”—he
paused—“what’s more important is that, well, Trey thinks someone else was on the boat that night. That someone else was driving
the boat. He’s just never been able to prove it.”
“I don’t understand. What do you mean someone else? Why didn’t Trey say anything?” Augie could only think of Leah then, her
heart racing.
“It’s . . . complicated.” Chat shifted on the box. “That’s why I’m here this summer, though. I’m trying to help. Ever since
Trey told me everything, I’ve been, I don’t know, obsessed. I wasn’t able to stop thinking about it. So when I was looking
everyone up online, and I stumbled across Danika’s nanny ad, I took it as a sign. I thought, if I could get to Aldon Lakes,
maybe I could find some way to help. Or, at the very least, I could tell Trey Danika was happy. He worries about her all the
time, misses her. He hasn’t talked to her in years.”
Chat half smiled. “I really did need a job, too. For what it’s worth.”
Augie suddenly stood. “You need to talk to Leah. This is too much.”
Chat rose to meet her.
“I know, I know. Augie, hear me out. I promise, I’m only trying to help. And, even more . . .” He turned more serious. “I
know it sounds crazy, but I think I’m close to the truth . . . to being able to prove who was really driving the boat that
night.”
Augie’s body felt lighter, as if filling with air.
“Who?”
“Joshu—”
But it was then—before he could finish—that they heard the chaos from outside.